Financial PR sage Roland Rudd, who also chairs a new pro-European campaigning body, Business for New Europe, has enticed two glittering new recruits to the organisation's advisory council.
One is Rudd's boss, the omnipresent Sir Martin Sorrell, who added Rudd's financial PR firm Finsbury Group to WPP's portfolio in 2004. The other is Sorrell's long-standing business ally, Niall Fitzgerald, former chairman of Unilever who now occupies a mirror role at Reuters.
Rudd's PR skills are already in evidence. The new organisation marked its birth with a YouGov poll of UK business leaders. To nobody's great surprise, 68% of those responding to the survey thought the single market had been 'good for British businesses' while just 12% disagreed.
Sorrell and Fitzgerald then dutifully delivered their party-pieces.
Said the former: "Business for New Europe is the right organisation at the right time. We should be proud of Europe's many achievements for business, but there needs to be greater reform and liberalisation."
On cue, Fitzgerald harmonized: "It is important that there should be a robust business voice, positive about the UK's role in the EU and championing the economic reform agenda. That is why I welcome the formation of BNE, which will go above and beyond party politics."
Data sourced from BrandRepublic (UK); additional content by WARC staff
